It has been recognized that speech or audio being projected or transmitted into a region by an audio announcement system is not necessarily intelligible merely because it is audible. In many instances, such as sports stadiums, airports, buildings and the like, speech delivered into a region may be loud enough to be heard but it may be unintelligible. Such considerations apply to audio announcement systems in general as well as those which are associated with fire safety, building or regional monitoring systems.
The need to output speech messages into regions being monitored in accordance with performance-based intelligibility measurements has been set forth in one standard, namely, NFPA 72-2002. It has been recognized that while regions of interest, such as conference rooms or office areas may provide very acceptable acoustics, some spaces such as those noted above, exhibit acoustical characteristics which degrade the intelligibility of speech.
It has also been recognized that regions being monitored may include spaces in one or more floors of a building, or buildings exhibiting dynamic acoustic characteristics. Building spaces are subject to change over time as surface treatments and finishes are changed, offices are rearranged, conference rooms are provided, auditoriums are incorporated and the like.
One approach has been disclosed and claimed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/740,200 filed Dec. 18, 2003, entitled “Intelligibility Measurement of Audio Announcement Systems” and assigned to the assignee hereof. The '200 application is incorporated herein by reference.
There is a continuing need to measure certain acoustic properties within a building space so that remediation of the speech messages could be undertaken Thus, there continues to be an ongoing need for improved, more efficient methods and systems of not only measuring speech intelligibility in regions of interest, but also in being able to carry out remediation of speech messages so as to improve such intelligibility. It would also be desirable to be able to incorporate some or all of such remediation capability in a way that takes advantage of ambient condition detectors which are intended to be distributed throughout a region being monitored. Preferably, such remediation of speech messages could be incorporated into the detectors being currently installed, and also be cost effectively incorporated as upgrades to detectors in existing systems as well as other types of modules.